Here's everything we know about Takata and the largest recall in US automotive history

Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
announced that Takata will declare 33.8 million vehicles
defective because they are equipped with airbags that can explode
and spray occupants with shards of metal.

"U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced that
at the Department’s insistence, air bag manufacturer Takata has
acknowledged that a defect exists in its air bag inflators,"
NHTSA said in a statement.

"Takata has agreed to a national recall of certain types of
driver and passenger side air bag inflators," NHTSA continued.
"These inflators were made with a propellant that can degrade
over time and has led to ruptures that have been blamed for six
deaths worldwide. The action expands the number of vehicles to be
recalled for defective Takata inflators to nearly 34 million."

This action expands the US Takata recall, adding 17 million
vehicles to the previous 16 million total. It's the most
monumental recall in US history and has captured the attention of
Congress, which last year held hearings of the the matter.

Here's everything we know about the Takata recall:

• Prior to Tuesday, 28 million vehicles had been recalled
worldwide.

• Owners can go to this NHTSA website to determine if their
vehicles are under recall.

• In the the US, Takata's
reluctance to cooperate with the government has been
costly. "NHTSA in February began
fining Takata $14,000 a day for not completely answering
questions about air-bag inflator production and company efforts
to investigate the explosions," Bloomberg's
Jeff Plungis reported.

• Bloomberg reported that Takata had agreed to larger fine with
NHTSA, but didn't name a figure.

• In a joint statement, US Senators Richard Blumenthal of
Connecticut and Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts said that
since "reports revealed Americans were dying as a result of
exploding airbags made by Takata, we have been asking for a
nationwide recall on all affected cars."